On Favre, fourth-round picks and foolishness

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A few observations and opinions after the first quarter of the NFL season:

What’s gotten into Brett Favre?

He turns 38 next week and is in 17th NFL season, but the talk around the league is that Favre is playing his best football since he and Mike Holmgren were going to Super Bowls with the Green Bay Packers in the mid-90s.

The biggest statistical indication of this is that Favre has been intercepted only twice despite putting the ball up a league-high 170 times. Not as obvious is that Favre has the Packers off to their 4-0 start despite having almost no running game to take the pressure to produce off his aging shoulders.

During his fabulously entertaining first quarter of the season, Favre has broken Dan Marino’s league records for career TD passes (422) and John Elway’s for career wins (150).

But there is one number that stands above the rest, according to Holmgren – who knows Favre better than most.

“He’s going to set all these records, but the most amazing record is not the yardage, not the touchdowns, it’s not, it’s playing all these consecutive games,” Holmgren said. “Unbelievable. Really. Unbelievable record.”

For the record, Favre is at 241 (regular season) and 261 (including playoffs) consecutive starts entering the Packers’ Monday night matchup with the Bears.

But the real reason to continue watching – and relishing – Favre is the little-kid enthusiasm he brings to the game. Every game. Almost every play.

“He’s out of his mind,” Holmgren cracked. “That hasn’t changed. He will never change. That’s one of the enduring qualities he has, really, and why his teammates love him so much and why he’s so much fun to coach.

“He has always looked at the game as a game. He’s made a few bucks playing, but he’s always approached it as a game. I think that’s a wonderful thing.”

So do I.

GO FOURTH, YOUNG MAN: The 49ers trade to acquire Seahawks leading receiver Darrell Jackson for a fourth-round draft choice in April was upstaged in the Bay Area by the Raiders shipping Randy Moss to the New England Patriots – also for a fourth-round pick, and on the same day.

Jackson continues to be overshadowed by Moss.

Through four games, Moss has caught 31 passes for 505 yards and seven touchdowns; compared to 14 for 204 and 0 for Jackson.

Moss, of course, is catching passes from Tom Brady. Jackson’s QBs have been the now-injured Alex Smith and the ineffective – at least on Sunday – Trent Dilfer.

MAR-TY, MAR-TY: The fans in San Diego finally began this chant Sunday during the Chargers’ loss to the Chiefs.

One question: What took them so long?

While watching the mistake-prone, disjointed Chargers during their preseason loss to the Seahawks, I jokingly did the “Mar-ty” chant in the press box.

The Chargers are getting what they deserve for firing Marty Schottenheimer after he led the team to a 14-2 record last season, but then lost to the Patriots in the playoffs. Norv Turner, his replacement, is one of the best offensive coordinators in the game – ask the 49ers’ Smith how much he misses Turner this season.

But Turner as a head coach, not so much.

HELMET TO HELMET: At one point during the Seahawks game in San Francisco, Holmgren thought someone had made his way to the team’s bench and was in the process of stealing a helmet.

Turns out, the guy was in charge of Seneca Wallace’s other helmet.

“That was his job,” said Holmgren, who then joked, “Tell me we’re not thorough.”

The Seahawks backup QB needs two helmets, because league rules allow only the quarterback to wear a helmet with a coach-to-QB receiver in it. When Wallace lines up as a wide receiver – as he did against the 49ers – he needs a regular helmet.

This issue actually was discussed when Holmgren was a member of the competition committee and the Steelers were using Kordell Stewart in his “slash” role.

“You could get fined a considerable amount of money (for having two players with receiver helmets),” Holmgren said. “It would be like a corked bat.”